He believed that nuclear power, driving desalination plants, could transform deserts into farmland.
It transformed desert settlements of Bedouin tribes into some of the richest cities on the planet, with sky-high buildings of marble, steel and glass, and fountains that defy the sands.
Serotonin, the brain chemical involved in depression, anger, and a variety of other human behaviors, turns out to have another surprising role: It transforms desert locusts from solitary, innocuous bugs into swarming, voracious pests that can ravage orchards and fields in a matter of hours.
The myths began in the late 19th century when land speculators, civic boosters and scientists proclaimed settlement and agriculture would create cloudbursts over dry land, transforming desert to garden.
Its delicate leaflets transform the desert sun's glare into a shimmering glow.
But then, in the summer, the Indian Monsoon leads to cooler waters and air, resulting in rainstorms that transform the desert.
THE enormous power tucked away in the atomic nucleus, the chemist Frederick Soddy rhapsodised in 1908, could "transform a desert continent, thaw the frozen poles, and make the whole world one smiling Garden of Eden".
Started in 2007, when property prices were at their peak, Hydra Village promised to transform a desert tract outside of Abu Dhabi into a lush "eco-village" of lakes, pools and 2,500 villas.
The country's warm climate coupled with its accumulated know-how in all things agriculture and farming are fertile ground to transform the desert state into a player on the global medical marijuana market.
